PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – A lot has happened during my internship since the last time I wrote! I have worked on and written over two dozen more articles and controlled the cameras during the nightly news.
I’ve learned how to set up the studio for the nightly news, and how to run cameras and the teleprompter. I understand how production works from the news side of it: how reporters pitch stories, go out with photographers and collect A and B-roll, and then how that content turns into a package played on the nightly news. I’m also starting to grasp how producers code and arrange the shows and shots.
I’m also getting comfortable with helping out the assignment desk, and assisting when reporting out in the field. I’ve shadowed photographers and reporters and had crazy experiences tagging along on breaking news.
A few weeks ago, I was in the newsroom while Norfolk felt the aftereffects of Hurricane Ian. A reporting crew got called to cover breaking news – and I went with them. We drove down to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, where it was pouring and there were wind speeds of 30 – 40 miles per hour. We were looking for a steeple that had flown off of a church, and when we finally found it, we began setting up the shot. A lot of things went wrong or didn’t work because of the weather: we had issues with the waterproofing on the camera, and Michelle Wolf, who was reporting, couldn’t use a stick mic because the wind ripped it out of her hand. We scrambled to dial into the shot, and I helped to hold the camera steady against the wind and rain. Despite the weather battering us, we were still able to make the live shot on the 10 o’clock news. At the end of the shot, Michelle had her contact ripped out of her eye by the wind, but we still were able to accomplish what we came for, and she was still able to sign off the shot on live TV!
The experience really taught me a lot about having passion for your job, and the degree of commitment that WAVY employees have. News is something continuous and essential; people need to know what’s going on, and a lot of dedicated employees work crazy hours and sometimes chaotic shifts to make that happen. All of the people I’ve met at WAVY are incredibly committed to their jobs, and to making – and breaking – news so that the local community is informed.
